Kasperi Kapanen jammed in a rebound at the 7:19 mark of overtime and the Edmonton Oilers advanced to the Western Conference finals for the second straight year with a 1-0 victory over the host Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of their second-round series.
Kapanen, picked up on waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 19 and playing just his second game in the series, slammed home a rebound of his own shot inside the right post for his second career overtime playoff winner as the Oilers won the best-of-seven series, 4-1.
Stuart Skinner finished with 24 saves for his second straight shutout out for Edmonton, which will play the Dallas-Winnipeg winner. The Oilers became the first team to clinch a playoff series with a 1-0 overtime win since the Calgary Flames over Detroit in 2004.
Adin Hill made 31 saves for Vegas.
A tight-checking game, the two teams combined for just 31 shots on goal and 13 scoring chances in the first two periods.
Vegas, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference after winning the Pacific Division with 110 points, and the Oilers, who lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, combined for just three shots on goal in the first 11 minutes. The Oilers, who finished with an 8-5 edge in shots on goal in the period, had the best scoring chance at the 13:55 mark when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fired a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle off the near right post.
Vegas, credited with zero scoring chances in the first period, got its first early in the second period when Jack Eichel hit an open Victor Olofsson at the top of the slot, but Skinner, coming off a 23-save shutout in Game 4, turned aside Olofsson’s wrist shot.
The Golden Knights, playing without captain Mark Stone who was scratched with an upper-body injury, made a strong push at the end of the second period with William Karlsson hitting the left post with a wrist shot from the bottom edge of the left circle.
The game opened up early in the third period with Eichel hitting Brett Howden with a pass on the backdoor but the puck bounced wide off Howden’s stick. Moments later, Leon Draisaitl had a breakaway but Hill made a blocker save on his wrist shot from the slot.
The Oilers had a chance to win it with 1:07 left when Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman broke free on a 2-on-1 break but Hill made a glove save on McDavid’s low wrist shot, his first shot of the game.
